3.18 Smoking, motor vehicle crashes and other injuries

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3.0 Background

3.1 Tobacco—a leading preventable cause of death and disease

3.2 Cardiovascular diseases

3.3 Lung cancer

3.4 Respiratory diseases

3.5 Other cancers caused by or associated with smoking

3.6 Reproductive health and smoking

3.7 Pregnancy and smoking

3.8 Infant health and smoking

3.9 Increased susceptibility to infection in smokers

3.10 Eye diseases

3.11 Dental diseases

3.12 Gastrointestinal diseases

3.13 Bone density and risk of fractures

3.14 Effects of smoking on the skin

3.15 Smoking and complications in medical treatment

3.16 Smoking and diabetes

3.17 Poorer levels of general health

3.18 Smoking, motor vehicle crashes and other injuries

3.19 Burns and fires caused by tobacco use

3.20 Tobacco poisoning

3.21 Health effects for younger smokers

3.22 Genetic influences on tobacco-caused disease

3.23 Smoking, dementia and cognitive decline

3.24 Lung disease, smoking and occupational exposures

3.25 Air pollution, cigarette smoking and ill health

3.26 Health effects of smoking brands that claim to deliver lower levels of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide

3.27 Health effects of smoking tobacco in other forms

3.28 Health 'benefits' of smoking?

3.29 Morbidity (ill health) attributable to tobacco-caused disease

3.30 Deaths attributable to tobacco by disease category

3.31 Morbidity and mortality due to tobacco-caused disease and socioeconomic disadvantage

3.32 Health effects of smoking other substances

3.33 Health effects of chewing tobacco, and of other smokeless tobacco products

3.34 Public perceptions of tobacco as a drug, and knowledge and beliefs about the health consequences of smoking

3.35 Health benefits of cessation

3.36 The global tobacco pandemic

Acknowledgments

References

Driver distraction is an important cause of motor vehicle crashes.105 Loss of concentration (thinking about other things or daydreaming), adjusting controls for accessories in the car, and being distracted by passengers or people or events outside the car are common causes of driver distraction.106 In research from New South Wales and Western Australia examining driver distraction and road safety, 10% of drivers reported that they had smoked during their most recent driving trip of five minutes or more duration, ahead of 9% who had used mobile telephones and 6% who had eaten while driving.106

An analysis of the US motor vehicle crash data concluded that distraction caused by smoking was thought to be responsible for almost 1% of car crashes over a five-year period between 1995–1999, or about 12,780 crashes.107 Canadian research has found that smokers are more likely to have a car crash than non-smokers, whether or not they are actually smoking at the time of the incident. The author of this study speculates that as well as the distraction factor, smokers may suffer physiological impairment due to smoking, or that there may underlying behavioural differences between smokers and non-smokers that contribute to the difference in crash data.108 Whatever the explanation, Australian reviews have concluded that smoking while driving increases the risk of having a motor vehicle crash.105, 109

Smokers are also more likely to die from injury in motor vehicle crashes and other types of accidents, including those involving falls, fires and other unintentional injuries.110–112 Possible reasons for this include the effects of smoking on physical performance (such as strength, agility, balance and speed) and recovery from physical trauma (such as post-operative complications and wound healing).112